 Combat Experience and the Foreign Policy Positions of VeteransTravis W. Endicott Social Science Quarterly, 2020, vol. 101, issue 4, 1413-1429 Abstract: Objective Prior work on the effect of combat on veterans typically measures combat experience as a dichotomous event. I extend work in this area by theorizing and empirically accounting for the number of unique combat experiences a veteran endures and how that associates with the veteran's outlook on foreign policy. Methods I utilize an original survey that asks for multiple types of military combat experience, as well as foreign policy positions. Findings Consistent with previous research, I find that veterans tend to be more hawkish than civilians. When I account for veterans’ number of unique combat experiences, however, I find that the more combat experiences that veterans endure, the less hawkish their foreign policy positions are. Moreover, consistent with literature from military psychology, this association only holds for veterans who express more regret about their time in the military. Conclusions The results should encourage public opinion scholars to consider the effects that the number of individual combat event experiences and regret have on veterans' issue positions more broadly. Date: 2020 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:socsci:v:101:y:2020:i:4:p:1413-1429 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Social Science Quarterly is currently edited by Robert L. Lineberry More articles in Social Science Quarterly from Southwestern Social Science Association |
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